Concord College celebrates national physics competition results
Shropshire’s international school has achieved its best ever results – in numbers and successes – in national physics competitions.
Acton Burnell-based Concord College say their record number of over 90 participants in physics challenges augers well for the future of the STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – subjects.
In the F5 GCSE Physics Challenge, Concord College gained two gold winners for the first time.
The Gold awards were achieved by David Zhang and Calvin Chow.
Golds were awarded to Toby Li and Andrei Gorbatch in the 6.2 Physics Olympiad while in the 6.1 AS Challenge, golds went to Patrick Akinwuntan and Yuan Ma.
All six also received book prizes.
At a presentation at the college, Chris Arthur, a physics teacher and co-ordinator of external competitions, said this year had been Concord’s biggest participation in physics competitions with increases in numbers for every competition.
“It is also our best-ever results for the GCSE Physics Challenge and first gold certificates in that competition.
“This year I have been overviewing external competitions and generally promoting competitions more widely around the school.
“At Concord, there has always been a great interest in physics and huge numbers taking physics. This year more students have felt confident to take part in competitions, which not only increases their knowledge, it also differentiates them when applying for top universities.
“We are also seeing a growth in the number of students taking competitions a year early. A lot have chosen to take the Olympiad in 6.1 whereas traditionally it has been at 6.2.”
Added Mr Arthur: “Although we have always had very strong interest in engineering, maths and sciences, there has been a general move in the country as a whole to promote the STEM subjects in schools and universities due to skill shortages in these areas.”
